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Chapter 2
Red worked hard on keeping herself calm as she listened to the king and his outburst over the fact she hadn't caught Pekka when she had the chance, of course she didn't blame the man for being angry, if Pekka was as dangerous as he had seemed then even she regretted she hadn't acted when the opportunity had appeared. She lowered her head for the king and gave him her apology, it calmed the king a bit, but she knew it was only because he was thinking, giving her the chance to explain herself. "I spotted the black magician in the Temple of Xizira, your highness. According to law I can't arrest someone inside a sanctuary such as that. I did set up my troops around outside though, but somehow he escaped none the less." She started to explain but noticed quickly how the king's look changed from angry to be one of disapproval, the look he gave as a warning to the people when they are out on thin ice. It was enough to make her stop trying to justify herself and go a different route. "With your permission I will send out my troop and go search for him. Local rumors say that he is usually seen by the harbor when he is here in Torak. It's highly likely we can still catch him, your highness." The king nodded slowly before he gave Red his approval, along with the order of pursuing the man to the world's end if needed. Red bowed and left the chamber to assemble her troops. Her head was filled with questions as she though back on that encounter with the infamous man at the temple. She remembered clearly the man's long blond hair, the just as blond goatee and the pale blue eye that looked so cold and almost soulless, partly thanks to the scars around it. There had been something very unsettling with the way he had looked at her and the dark, hoarse voice of his was far from helping in making him seem friendly, but somehow she had the feeling that it had all been some form of an act. She pinched the bridge of her nose and took a seat on a bench to collect her thoughts properly; if she had a mission in front of her then she couldn't afford to be distracted, but the memory of how Pekka had called the king for "The Land's Poison" still baffled her. She quickly waved the thought away, figuring that the man had just tried to make her hesitate and maybe even lose her faith in the king. It wasn't the first time she had heard people complain about the king and certainly wouldn't be the last, she knew people always needed someone to blame for everything that weren't the way they wanted. She took a deep breath and stood up again, deciding that it in the end wasn't her job to deal with the country's people until they stepped outside of line, for now she had a war to think about and a black magician who needed to be captured, preferably before he reached a the lawless land, Kontera. With that in mind she went to assemble a troop she could take with her. The troop was small, only a handful of the more skilled soldiers had been picked out by Red since she couldn't afford leaving the palace unprotected. She braided her hair loosly to get it out of her face before she put on her black helmet and waved for the men to follow her, leaving the castle to get the mission out of the way. They headed straight to the harbor, not paying attention to the people or their harsh words, in the end it was nothing but words after all. The harbor was busy as expected, people running around with cargo from the ships and civilians, who tried to get their hands on the fresh fish from the fishing boats' morning catch, but it all seemed to stop as Red and her men showed up and people backed away. "Spread out and search the ships and the harbor. Remember, we are looking for a black magician." She ordered and jumped off her damichiri bird, the giant blue bird giving out a troubled squawk as she did so and started to stomp impatiently, signaling it didn't want to be left alone. Red muttered quietly and led the giant bird out of the crowd as she looked around the area, waiting for a status report from her men. It took an hour before finally her second-in-command finally approached her. "He is not her, Ma'am." He started and Red had to struggle to not yell out at the man. "But we checked the harbor's ship list. The storm last night kept most ships from leaving, except for a Morotzier ship, and some of the tavern's employees claim that they saw a human man join that ship as it took off last night." "Then what are you waiting for? Prepare a ship right away and find out where that ship is or was heading. If Lethosaari joined that ship then the Morotzier will know where he is for sure." Red ordered and climbed back up on the damichiri again to head back to the palace to inform the king about the change of plans and get the necessary preparations for the journey done. She had been hoping that the mission would have been quickly over, but it seemed like luck wasn't on her side this time. -*- Pekka sighed and just stared at the little fire he had made for him and Loke to warm their food on, the climbing had been proven to be harder than expected after they had discovered the old way to the temple had been blocked. Some rocks had fallen over the path so they would now have to think of a different way to get around; though he was surprised they hadn't had anything else happening to them until now. "So the mountain path is blocked, no big deal. There is always another way around right? Didn't you say all the old temples used to have back doors or trap doors and stuff like that? We just find one of those." Loke said with a smile, looking as positive as always. It was a trait Pekka had come to enjoy about the man, no matter what he seemed to think about things on the bright side. "Well, that is true they did. But how will that help us if we don't know where to find it? And don't tell me you know a way to an old trap door." Pekka chuckled and took his heated bread away from the fire to eat. "Well, not exactly. But I know there is a tunnel leading into the mountain not far from here. It might lead to what we are looking for." The grey haired man shrugged, smiling just as happy as before. "It's not like it can hurt to check it out, right?" "Loke... I still haven't forgotten about the idea you had about riding wild Keranick Lizards. Remember how that went?" "Okay so it wasn't my best idea ever, but at least we got some good laughs from it after, right? Sometimes it's good to have bad ideas you can laugh about after." Loke chuckled and leaned back, looking as care free as ever. Pekka couldn't help but chuckled himself at the memory, he had been thrown of the lizard and landed in a pool of mud and broken an arm, but still he could remember he had fun back then when it happened, even if his pride took a bit of a blow that day. "So… Where is that tunnel then?" "Just a little bit further down the path. Hope you can give some light, I didn't bring any torches." Pekka rolled his eyes and sighed, not really surprised over Loke's statement since he knew the man usually didn't pack more than needed. "Hey! Don't roll your eyes at me, Pekka! It's not like I knew we would need some." "I know I know. I just summon some fire and then we will see. I'm not a white magician after all so light isn't part of my arsenal." The two men then feel silent to finish their lunch before they had to move on. It didn't take long to find the tunnel Loke had been talking about, it wasn't very big and they would both have to crawl their way through it. Pekka went first into the tunnel, creating a small flame in his hand that spread enough light for him to see ahead but wasn't so big so the smoke would be annoying. The tunnel was smaller than he had expected, even if he crawled flat on his stomach he still hit his head at the stone ceiling, he just took some pleasure in knowing that Loke probably would have more troubles with it considering the man's slightly more muscular built. The air slowly started to get colder around them as they got further down the tunnel, and the ground under them started to feel like ice instead of stone. "You think there is an ice cave up ahead?" Pekka asked while trying to glance back at his friend. "Not impossible. I have seen a few of those caves on this Island before." Pekka nodded slightly and kept crawling ahead till he finally felt some space for his head, he looked around but couldn't see clearly, he could just tell the tunnel had gotten a little bit larger than before. He made the flame in his hand a little bit larger so they would get a bit brighter so they could see. They had indeed ended up in a cave that was covered in ice, and it was big enough for them to stand up properly. "This gave is pretty big, isn't it?" Pekka mumbled as he stood up, shivering slightly from the cold that caused him to wish he wasn't wearing a sleeveless turtleneck. "Pekka… I don't think it's a natural cave." Loke pointed out as he ran his hand over the wall and then glanced at the floor. "And I don't think… We are alone in here." "What do you mean? You're the only one living on this island besides all the beasts, right?" Pekka followed Loke's gaze, trying to see what the man had spotted. That was when he saw the remains of a small bonfire. "I am alone, or… So I thought. But look at the walls, they are perfectly smooth. That's not natural as far as I know. I think we ended up in an old room." Loke pointed out before walking over to the bonfire, checking the remains. "And whoever was here… Is most likely not far away. The remains are still kind of warm and the water around haven't frozen up yet." Pekka felt his heart sink a bit, he wondered if it was possible that someone had already found out where he was, and if so, where could that person now be hiding? He looked around the room, trying to spot a possible hiding spot, but there didn't seem to be any that would allow a human to hide. "Don't worry, Pekka. If it's one of those you run from then they would have to be damn smart knowing you would head to the temple and take this route, right? For all we know people still think you are hiding in Torak." Loke said in his calm and comforting voice. Pekka nodded, knowing that Loke did have a point; it wasn't like Pekka planned ahead that much so someone would be able to figure out his plans. "You're right. It might be a lost adventurer or something." With that he headed to check the other end of the cave, finding that there was a corridor they could walk through. "Okay, let's take this way, Loke, but be careful, it looks like it could be hard to walk here." Pekka felt how Loke's beast of a pet stroke against his leg as it walked ahead of both of them into the dark corridor. The two men quietly looked at each other before they followed after the beast, hearing the echo of their footsteps bounce of the walls. There was a bit of an unsettling feeling over the place even as the ice started to disappear the further in to the corridor they got, it all made Pekka's mind wander off again as he started to wonder just what kind of place they ended up in, in fact he started to wonder if they had ended up in the temple they had been looking for somehow after all, though he didn't get to think about the matter for too long as he heard Northern Light scratch on one of the stone walls and growl. "What's the matter, boy?" Loke said and kneeled down next to the giant beast and reached out to the wall. Pekka just watched as Loke examined the wall. "Pekka… Can you melt the ice from the wall? I think there might be a door or something behind it." "Are you sure about that?" Pekka just received a nod in response; it was enough to know Loke was serious about it all. He motioned to Loke to step back with Northern Light and when they were on a safe distance he sent a flood of fire against the wall, causing the ice to melt and steam rise. Slowly the wall was uncovered from the thin ice layer it had and indeed a door was revealed. The fire flood was stopped and the two men just looked at each other as they reached out to open it, but before they even reached the door knob the door swung open. The men quickly stepped back, ready to defend themselves, when something darted out of the door and just jumped over them, heading down the corridor to the room they had left just moments ago. Northern Light darted after the while both Loke and Pekka stood dumbfounded at what had just happened. Pekka looked after the run away for as long as he could, but all he had managed to take in was the it had looked like a very tall human or elf dressed in black. "Umm… Do we continue? Or should we get Northern Light?" Loke asked hesitantly as he turned to look into the room the tall figured had come from. "I think this is the temple anyway… And Northern Light doesn't exactly need us to take care of him…" "Yeah… Let's move on… It's not like that person will be able to leave the island that easily anyway." Pekka turned and stepped through the door opening and looked around. The place did indeed look like the ruins of a temple, and it was covered in light from the opening in the roof and the holes in the walls let the wind move inside, there was no doubt about it, it was the Wind Goddess' ancient temple. The two men quickly started to search the area, amazed that their misfortune had somehow let them get to their goal faster than they thought. -*- The ship was finally ready to leave the harbor and Red had managed to pick out three men that were going to go with her on the mission, the rest had to stay in Torak in case the Malijer would get through the defenses. The woman looked out over the water from the ship as it left the harbor, she was nervous since it was the first time she had left mainland like this and she wasn't sure what to expect from the islands. She had heard all kinds of rumors about them and how some of them were dangerous enough to make people travel further than needed just to avoid them. It wouldn't surprise her if Pekka would have taken his escape to one of these dangerous places, thinking it would keep him safe. Though she wasn't sure if the Morotzier would have taken the man that far, they might be well known for their skills as sailors, especially considering they were water creatures, but they were also famous for avoiding danger of all kinds to any price. Red wasn't sure if she considered it cowardly or being smart to be honest, but she did know that it would make it easier for her to find out the whereabouts of where Pekka might be. "Ma'am, may I ask you something?" Red turned around to look at one of the soldiers she had brought with her. He was shorter than most people in Torak and showed features and mannerism mostly associated with the people from Frerith. "What is it, Karus?" She noticed that there was a slight confusion showing in his face, as well as he looked very thoughtful. "I know I shouldn't question our orders and I know I'm still a freshman in the army... But why is it so important to capture this man? It's just one man after all." "It's a black magician, Karus. They might be very few these days, but their magic is very destructive, add that to how the man is against the king and we have a threat that can become really… Let's say troublesome." Red answered, she knew that it might be fully true but it was the easier way to convince herself and her soldiers that they were doing the right thing. Karus face still looked a bit concerned but he slowly nodded. "I guess it's for the better then that he is captured... But don't you think that the focus should be on the war up north rather than on a Black magician who just ran off?" Karus looked up at Red with his steel grey eyes. "Are you questioning the King's decision, Karus? Because if you do I suggest you reconsider now, or you might be charged for treason." It was a warning, and she had tried to sound very gentle, but there was a hint of fear in the young man's face so she figured she had sounded more threatening than she had planned. "Sorry, Karus. But I rather not see one of my soldiers on the execution stand as you might understand." "I understand, Ma'am. It's just… It feels like we shouldn't focus on him… But I guess that's why I'm not in charge I guess." "Don't think too much about it. Let's just focus on getting this part over with then we take care of the rest. I don't trust Reax's leadership in battle so I rather get back and take over as soon as possible." The boy smiled slightly and nodded, looking somewhat satisfied with the answer he had received. Red smiled slightly herself as she went to sit down and sharpen her spear, hoping she wouldn't have to use it this time. The sun was about to set when one of Red's soldiers up in the crow's nest climbed down to the deck, looking like he was in a hurry. "We have discovered something, Ma'am!" The called out to Red then waited for her to give the approval to continue speaking. "We discovered a life boat from a Morotzier ship on the shore of the Island up ahead. The island is uninhabited as far as our knowledge goes and suspects therefore that the man we are looking for might be hiding there." "Then prepare to go ashore. Ask the captain about the island and get ready to deal with a dangerous man. I have a feeling he won't go with us willingly." Red ordered and stood up to adjust her armor before walking to watch as the ship crew prepared a boat for them so they could get ashore. Though, as she looked at the island up ahead she got an uneasy feeling, it was like something with it tried to tell them all to stay away. She shook of the feeling as her just being paranoid over going to an unknown place. She knew it would be over quickly as soon as they found the man, there was no one on that island that would be able to keep him safe after all. Category:Chapters Category:Novel